Fonseca shrugs off talk of rift with Milan duo

Paulo Fonseca was quick to dismiss talk of any tension with Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez, who both appeared to snub him shortly after coming off the bench.

The pair came off the bench to help earn a 2-2 draw with Lazio on Saturday, being brought on in a quadruple change by Fonseca after being left out of the starting line-up.

Milan were losing 2-1 at the time of their introduction, and they immediately turned things around, with Hernandez and debutant Tammy Abraham, another substitute, involved in Leao’s equaliser.

Minutes later, the game stopped for a cooling break, with both managers using the opportunity to instruct their players, but both Leao and Hernandez remained on the far side of the pitch, taking no part in the team talk.

“The situation with Theo and Leao, there is no problem and I think Theo has already explained,” Fonseca told DAZN.

“We don’t need to create any problems. This week I spoke with the players and they accepted my decision. There is no problem, I was concentrated, and I didn’t see that they weren’t there.”

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Hernandez had already given his reasons immediately after the game.

“We had been on for two minutes, we didn’t need the cooling break,” Hernandez said.

“It was nothing against the team and the coach. Then people talk, say things that aren’t true. Rafa and I are always with the team to help, and that is the important thing.”

Milan are still without a league win this season after three games, but Fonseca says he saw a decent performance in the opening half, giving him something to work on.

“We had a good first half. We always managed the game well with the ball. When you control the game like this, we have to have more moments to become dangerous, but it’s something we have to work on,” Fonseca told Milan TV.

“We must always have the courage we had in the first half because we did good things. If we had won the other two games, this could have been a good result, but it is not so. But we have to start from today’s first half.”